What Wall Street Fears

The bigger truth Gamestop brings into focus--

The establishment wings of both parties and especially the ruling class which funds and controls them are most desperate to prevent people from realizing that these left/right citizen divisions, though sometimes meaningful, are often illusory. Much in common, as this week shows.

See Tom Hanks on Black Jeopardy. Americans share common values. But the wedge issues that separate left and right are consistently and unnecessarily highlighted to exploit divisions (BLM, CRT, 4Chan, Alt Right, Transgender stuff) because they only thing Wall St, etc, really fears is a middle class driven consensus about their corruption.

This Gamestop Thing

Allows everyone to do what they do best: complain and hate on something.

The "people" get to whine about elites not letting them act like total idiots. The "elites" get to act like disappointed parents and condescend. And the smarty pants get to understand the nuance of the situation and look down on the stupidity of it all.

Bravo. Welcome, 2021. We start just where 2020 left off. 

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Film: Nightcrawler

Rewatch. It didn't age well. Felt like it was part of the problem it was trying to critique.

QAnon

Maybe QAnon just needs to re-brand itself as a cosplay and/or an RPG and in order to get mainstream media acceptance.

Booze

A conservative defense of drinking.

Nevertheless, if you take a whole generation of middle-class professionals and deprive them of whiskey and cigarettes—not to mention meat and cheese and bread—it’s no wonder they should go about tearing down statues of Abe Lincoln as part of some moral crusade against “systemic racism.” The modern Left has the same bossy, superior air as the scolds and Suffragettes who gave us Prohibition.

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Film: Mank

Finally finished and I must admit, 2nd half of the film really picks up. I enjoyed quite a bit. Particularly this bit:

"I'm washed up, Joe. Have been for years."

Beat.

"It's the best thing you ever wrote."

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TV: Night Stalker

Netflix doc on guess who? Totally captivating. Would make a great film.

My wife told me she read some a critique on buzzfeed for focusing the doc on the cops rather than analyzing the systemic racism and culture that gave rise to Rodriguez. Is this type of thing what passes as criticism today? Why didn't you make a totally different movie? Insane.

TV: Ted Lasso

I enjoy it.

Although in soccer, fyi folks, you don't run "plays."

Film: Sound of Metal

Finished it. One of my favorites of the year. Riz Ahmed, if things broke right for him, could be of Denzel Washington stature.

American "Leadership"

What happened to N95 masks? A CNN article suggests we could've ended the pandemic with the right protective equipment.

My take: our collective leadership prioritized criticizing the other side over resolving the pandemic.

Nationally, Trump administration gambled the farm on vaccines. Obviously, the vaccine push in Operation Warp Speed worked and was a smart move. But why can't we walk and chew gum? I don't understand how we didn't also push out a major effort to get out the good N95 masks into people's hands before this second wave hit. Why do we hear nothing about treatments? Why don't we have $1 tests that people can take at home? We are a rich nation of 350 million people. We gave away billions to keep the stock market afloat and people and businesses solvent. Couldn't we have spent that money on something productive? 

Locally, I don't even know what to say. I'm in California and LA and my impression of our leadership is that they don't actually care. I mean that. I don't think they care about opening schools. I don't think they care about people making a living. I think they DO care about the negative optics of hospitals overflowing. I think the only tool in their toolkit is taking draconian lockdown measures to make themselves look marginally better than Republican states. There's been no effort, as far as I can tell, to get public schools open. Meanwhile, my employer and my kid's daycare figured out strong plans for reopening that I believe are pretty safe - check temps, wear masks, lower the overall numbers in spaces. And these are not big organizations, nor were they equipped to handle the pandemic. But they figured it out because they have incentive to figure it out. The last piece of the pie would be daily testing. California often boasts of being the 6th largest economy on the planet with the most innovative companies in the world. We can't figure out daily tests?

The only priority of Californian leadership was to get Trump out of office. That's why we have the largest COVID numbers in the world right now. That's why we prioritized mail in ballots and lockdowns and hypocritical stances on varying forms of protest. That's why all the energy is focused on canceling people, etc. Because they don't care.

Random Thought

Shaq is way better on TV than I thought he'd be.

Pays to play with Barkley, I suppose.

Why 74 Million Voted For Trump? 

A theory. A caravan of immigrants are coming from Central America right in the middle of COVID because Biden is taking office.

The World's Smallest Violin Plays...

For the QAnon folks in total disarray.

Twitter and Facebook

My take has always been the same: these ecosystems are like being at a bad party.

Logging

TV: Lupin S1 E1

Fun, but maybe not that interesting.

TV: Wandavision S1 E1 and E2

I don't get it. 

Film: Sound of Metal

Much better than I thought it would be. Engrossing, emotional. 

Batteries

Tesla's erode.

Nearly all my problems on older MacBook or iPhones end up being battery issues after a few years. I can see this being a major problem with electronic vehicles.

To fix my MacBook battery, it would cost 400-500 whereas a brand new one costs 1000. I wonder what the situation will be with electronic vehicles.

To Reiterate

I am concerned with Big Tech censorship, wokeness, and all the other bullshit on the left, but I don't see how Republicans or so called Conservatives can be anything other than contrite and apoplectic about the way Trump has handled the post-Election.

Your FEELINGS about the election being stolen are just that. Feelings. They are not supported by evidence. It's a total disaster. It's the Right becoming the Left.

Embarrassment

Trump becomes a national embarrassment. 

It's taken me four years to get to where his critics were on Day 1, but this shit show has gotten shameful.

Jail for Giuliani

Consistent with my "take the weaker territories first," this 60 Minutes interview tidbit shows Giuliani knowing promoted the election was stolen conspiracy in front of the Georgia State Senate. This has to be illegal.

Lamposts

Are where these local officials deserve to be hanging from. 

The clinic -- the Men's Health Foundation in Inglewood -- contacted people who were not on the priority list but desperately wanted the vaccine, and these folks got the remaining doses. Incredibly, that runs afoul of the County Health Dept's guidelines, which say ONLY people on the priority list should be vaccinated, EVEN IF THE VACCINES WOULD OTHERWISE END UP IN THE TRASH.

How Is It

That Ann Coulter has the most incisive takes on Trump?

Endgame

When approaching the endgame in Risk, the best strategy is to attack all the weaker territories around the largest army of your enemy. Consolidate your armies and in the final blow, take out the most armed territory.

The reason? If you do not take out the smaller territories first, you might deplete your largest army facing the most armed territory and not have enough armies positioned in the right way to take out the scraps. If you leave one extra turn to the scraps, they could get Risk cards and breathe new life into the game.

For that reason, right now, I think the Senate and House should concentrate on neutering Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz either through censure motions and possibly even stripping them of their committee responsibilities. This should be bipartisan. They should not make them martyrs, merely impotent.

This will help cool things down. Democrats will find pleasure in punishing those who goosed along the Capitol riot. It will be a warning shot to anyone with power who wants to ally with Trump at this point --- is there anyone left?

Censure Trump with 90%+ vote by both House and Senate. It needs to be bipartisan.

If an armed mob comes to Washington to try and install a dictator or intimidate our elected officials into not inaugurating an elected President on the 17th or 20th, it is an act of war and they can either surrender their weapons or get lit up. 

Security at the Capitol

From some more listening and viewing, it seems like the security strategy was something like this:

1) We don't have the resources, preparation, or will to hold them out of the capitol entirely, therefore...

2) Get the officials to safety

3) Set up barricades in narrow places that will be the DO NOT CROSS zones.

4) Let the maniacs come in and roam about and get lost

5) Hold the secondary line until back up arrives and the situation cools down.

The secondary line is where the woman was shot. I watched the video (actually a bit by accident). My biggest thought: it worked. She was trying to breach the secondary line and shooting her made the maniacs stop and retreat.

I suppose GIVEN the situation of being unprepared, the security did their job. No officials were hurt or injured. Of course, the question remains: why were they unprepared?

Takes

A couple good (and funny) takes on what went down at the Capitol riot. Here. And here.

As for my own - I believe the horror of the proceedings speaks for itself. 

I oppose the Twitter, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook bans as setting a dangerous precedent and pushing the alt-right to further extremes. It can't really be very hard to set up an alternative social networking sites, can it? Is this a good idea?

I favor the aggressive talk of impeachment, 25th Amendment, and threats of removing Trump from office as a bargaining tool/sword of damocles warning to him to shut his trap or face further humiliation. But I do not actually favor moving forward with it. I think Pence should remain strategically quiet about the 25th Amendment and not respond to either calls for it, or against it until January 20th. Pelosi is playing her role, I suppose, although perhaps the dumbest thing she did was publicly announce her call to the military about the nuclear codes. Had she done this privately, fine. But why put into the news? 

The public shame, I think, will do the trick but of course, I've been wrong about the levels to which Trump and his supporters will go ever since Nov 3rd.

Consequences

Before we move forward with it, anyone one to think about how folks might react to canceling the 75 million Americans who voted for Trump? 

Asking for a friend.

Libertarians Warned About This

I have some libertarian tendencies, but as a practical means to govern in the contemporary world, I find it lacking. Nevertheless, it tends to offer good critiques of the excesses of power. Democrats will now use the tools build in the "War on Terror" to go after "Domestic Terrorists" (aka political opponents).

The liberal power racket is out in full force in response to the capitol riots, exaggerating the event toward the end of grabbing more power for themselves. A only slightly less sickening display than the event itself.

Trump 

Will be gone in two weeks either way and yet all the problems that lead to his election will remain. A long, but worthwhile essay about what got us here. 

Although, to be honest, I've grown a bit tired of the "how we got here takes" and am more interested in - how is one to be in the face of this? That's the harder question.

A Reasonable Take

Here. And probably right.

3/ The #ElectoralCollegeRiot likely represents the alt.right's attempt to grab the spotlight one last time before Dem's control the legislature and White House. 

4/ For a few folks who put the President in a religious light, it may represent a Masada-style last stand. Otherwise, I view this sort of antic as a sort of pro-wrestling style spectacle for the alt.right.

Impeachment

I was against it before, but open to it now.

I know I need to shut up. 

Heat of the moment.

Need to figure out what truly happened.

Too much information flooding past.

Take It Back

For the record, I'm probably wrong about my numerous calls to shoot the rioters today. Judging by my reaction to reading others reactions on the internet about this event, I'm inclined to shut up.

And In The Long Run...

...The most annoying thing about will today will be having to listen to liberal takes on the events.

UPDATE: Casual perusal of the internet says I'm right on the money.

As Accounts of the Day Roll In...

A few observations:

1) Media predictably are over blowing the riot, calling it a coup attempt and sedition. Wrong. The rioters were impotent clowns - luckily.

2) Capitol police behaved the exact same way the security at Stoneman high school behaved when faced with danger: like pussies. Those who stood down should be fired and their pensions taken away. And called out publicly for what they are: cowards.

3) Prosecute everyone who entered the capitol.

4) Republicans should strongly consider removing Trump from office in these next couple days.

5) I repeat what I said earlier: the police should have shot those who entered the capitol on sight. The only hero of the day is the person who fired their weapon.

6) Rinse wash and repeat for the next group of rioters whether they be BLM or Trump supporters.

America today: Ann Coulter's now a voice of reason.

The worst takes of the day: any that begins with "what about..." 

America Is Not A Building

These idiots have no chance. 

Rioters in the Capitol

If they enter the building, shoot 'em on the spot. Round up the rest of them and put in Redskins stadium. They can have food and water when they go home.

Fin.

Indeed

"President Trump seems determined to leave office in a manner that vindicates the vile accusations hurled at him by his opponents over the past four years."

My Advice

For Republicans is the same as mine for the Dems in 2016: you don't like the result, go win an election. 

Shoot 'Em

Invading the building is not a protest. 

Shoot 'em until they get the picture.

So Much For...

...Being the party of law and order.

UPDATE: This summer, at the behest of BLM, Democrats indulged in some of the stupidest, most paranoid and delusional politics of my lifetime. Republican reaction: hold my beer.

Incompetents

Why are the state officials so dumb? 

They couldn't run a candy store.

First Doses First

Again at Marginal Revolution a vocal, rational, calling out the public health bureaucrats.  

At the risk of venturing into psychoanalysis, it is hard for me to avoid the feeling that a lot of public health experts are very risk-averse and they are used to hiding behind RCT results to minimize the chance of blame. They fear committing sins of commission more than committing sins of omission because of their training, they are fairly conformist, they are used to holding entrenched positions of authority, and subconsciously they identify their status and protected positions with good public health outcomes (a correlation usually but not always true), and so they have self-deceived into pursuing their status and security rather than the actual outcomes. Doing a back of the envelope calculation to support their recommendation against First Doses First would expose that cognitive dissonance and thus it is an uncomfortable activity they shy away from. Instead, they prefer to dip their toes into the water by citing “a single argument” and running away from a full comparison. 

It is downright bizarre to me — and yes scandalous — that a significant percentage of public health experts are not working day and night to produce and circulate such numerical expected value estimates, no matter which side of the debate they may be on. 

How many times have I read Twitter threads where public health experts, at around tweet #11, make the cliched call for transparency in decision-making? If you wish to argue against First Doses First, now it is time to actually provide such transparency. Show your work people, we will gladly listen and change our minds if your arguments are good ones.

Tyler is too polite to call them what he means: cowards.

Too add on this, my family got tested multiple times over the holiday break, including a 60 minute test. We drove up, got tested, drove off with no line and got our results. The only thing that holds us back from doing this more: the cost - $175 for the 1 hour test result per person ($145 for the 2-4 day test). We are hoping insurance will pay for it all. 

How come this isn't just widely available everywhere by now? What happened to testing? What happened to all these poor waiters and waitresses who are out of work? Why are we talking about $1200 free money to everyone -- what we should be doing is hiring rapid drive through testers to pick people's noses with q-tips are run these goddamn 1 hour tests. Can you imagine? We could be practically back to normal without the vaccine with rapid testing, couldn't we? Everyone tests twice a week...

Testing centers should be everywhere like Starbucks and McDonalds. 

Instead, we have one free testing center in LA - Dodger Stadium - that was totally overwhelmed when LA folks needed to get tested as this explosion was happening. 2-4 hour lines. We went one day and drove away. I'm sure thousands others did as well - and hundreds of those people had COVID, I'm sure. 

To what degree has this continued local testing failure in LA contributed to the spread? I think some.

Absurd

I used to think it absurd when Libs said Trump could end up in jail, but he's skating in that direction. 

The Woke

Article excerpt:

Is there hope? Koestler’s book is not an optimistic one. “He who accepts a dictatorship must accept civil war as a means. He [who] recoils from civil war must give up opposition and accept the dictatorship.” Let us hope that Koestler is wrong about that. Hope, however, may not be enough. The challenge of our age is not merely to resist the woke, but for those who recoil from both civil war and dictatorship to find a peaceful, orderly means of resistance.

I suggest not giving an inch to political correctness in all walks of life. The civil war will be avoided by millions of little skirmishes: fought in classrooms, workplaces, bars, and homes. Do not give an inch to totalitarian lies of political correctness. Mock it. Speak out against it. It will die a slow and painful death because it is shallow. Make those who believe in the lies stew and fester in their own miserable conclusions. The only way it wins is with complicity, silence, and people unwilling to speak out against it.

And arm yourself. Not with guns, but with money, friends, community, family, faith, knowledge, and relationships. And then with guns.

Vaccine

And in the newest wrinkle, it seems a substantial percentage of frontline workers are rejecting the COVID vaccine. What are we to take from this? The only sensible explanation is that people who who see the disease up close must somehow think it's not so bad or they won't be affected by it. Huh.

Logging

TV: A Teacher, final episode

And somehow, prestige television suddenly turned into an after school special. 

Television has come full circle to my teenage years. The shows are beginning to resemble television from that time. As much as I enjoy the Mandalorian, the show is more Xena Warrior Princess than Sergio Leone.

Film: Under The Silver Lake

I wanted to like it, but ultimately, it's a film for young men with too much time on their hands.

TV: The Bureau, pilot

French spy procedural. Pretty impossible for me not to like.

A pretty good streaming viewing strategy would be to pick any show or film in a foreign language.

LA

Why is COVID hitting LA so hard? Here are a few of my armchair theories:

1) High housing costs mean more people crammed into homes, particularly in lower income communities.

2) LA has a larger percentage of workers doing "in person" jobs than say, SF. For instance, in the skilled labor arena many in SF have "office jobs" whereas many in LA have "production jobs."

3) LA has very idiosyncratic and naturally rebellious political attitudes versus other cities. As evidence, Los Angeles an evangelical preacher who insists on doing church services, vocal bars that refuse to comply with county health regulations, young folks throwing massive weekend parties, and communities rejecting LA board of health guidelines and forming their own boards of health.

4) We have totally incompetent political leadership on the local, state, and national level.

5) LA attracts risk takers, who are not being as careful with COVID generally.

6) LA is chock full of subcommunities, many not even really defined. Many of these subcommunities play by their own rules and a few of these subcommunities are likely driving the massive spread.

7) Bad luck

8) The disease is still more mysterious and uncontrollable than we think.

9) Backlash against inconsistent regulations cause people to take more risk and be less careful than common sense dictates.

10) Did not get hit as hard as other place before, so we're getting caught up.

11) Generally lower hospital capacity.